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Cesc Fabregas says: ‘I never planned to go back this summer. It’s true that they had offers and they told me about them but the only thing in my head was staying at Barcelona.’

The former Arsenal captain says he was on the beach when he heard of the interest from the Premier League champions: ‘I saw the stories and I spoke with Darren [Dein, his agent] and he said, “What do you want to do?”. I know that if a club come in for you and you tell your representative that you want to go, then you go. All that’s missing is that the club accept the offer. It’s easy.

‘But at no time did I say that I wanted to go. It was clear in my mind that I wanted to succeed at Barcelona.’

Man with a plan: Cesc Fabregas says he knows how to stop the Madrid duo of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo

If there are to be times when Fabregas regrets turning down the chance to be United’s fulcrum, Saturday is unlikely to be one of them. David Moyes’s side face Stoke, Barca play Real Madrid in arguably football’s biggest club match.

It’s the game that has everything, including two other Manchester United summer targets, Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Both, like Fabregas, are former PFA young player winners who came of age in England. This will be Fabregas’s fifth league clasico and Bale’s first. The Barcelona man believes the debutant will find his feet at Madrid and, if they play to his strengths, will thrive.

He says: ‘The question is, “How do they play with him in the side?” If Madrid want to dominate possession, then he will find it more difficult because he will not have that space in front of him — Madrid will have the ball and the opposition will close up defensively and sit deep.

Real threat: Bale and Ronaldo are two of Madrid's danger men

‘But if they are not going to dominate possession, as has been the case for the last few years with Jose Mourinho, then opposition teams think “Great, we’ve got the ball”, they grow in confidence and they move up the pitch and, bang! A counter-attack and a goal, and he will really enjoy that.’

Is there a danger for Barcelona that he will begin really enjoying himself today against a team who love to dominate possession and play high up the pitch?

‘Well, Madrid in recent years have not liked it when other teams let them have the ball and waited for them deep inside their own half. Cristiano Ronaldo finds himself with two lines of four in front of him. Now Bale will be in the same position. They like the opposition to grow in confidence and come out with the ball so they can win it back and, in two passes, they are back down the other end of the pitch. They have such powerful players going forward and they do a lot of damage.

Coming out on top: Fabregas beats Ronaldo to the ball in a previous El Clasico

Battle of north London: Fabregas and Bale have come up against each other in the Premier League

‘In the last few clasicos they have done things very well against us. You have to give them credit for how they have gone about things. They have waited for us and let us play. They have aggressive players at the back, they have won possession from us and made it very difficult for us on the counter-attack.’

So, now that Bale has joined Ronaldo in those ‘charge of the white brigade’ raids, will Barcelona change their style to cope?

‘Barca must play like Barca,’ he says. ‘When we lose, we do so playing like Barca. And when we win, we win playing like Barca. We have another coach and sometimes he has other ideas. Let’s see how it goes on the day but, in theory, it needs to be the same Barca.’

No regrets: Fabregas was never planning on joining David Moyes and former teammate Robin Van Persie at Manchester United this summer

The brinkmanship today will go to new extremes — Real Madrid’s frighteningly fast front three all in their blocks ready for the get set, go and Barca pouring forward regardless, with full backs Dani Alves and Adriano trying to make attack the best form of defence.

‘Barca are not just about winning leagues and lifting trophies,’ says Fabregas.

‘Recently, we played Rayo Vallecano and won 4-0 but people were not happy because they had slightly more possession than us. It’s incredible, it wasn’t as if we had won 1-0; we scored four!’

Despite having grown up at the club until the age of 16 you still sense that there was a culture shock coming home. ‘In England, you always have that extra bit of freedom as a player mentally. You know that, if you misplace a pass, the fans are going to support you,’ he says. ‘And, in my case, it was a bit different because the supporters saw in me someone who had been at the club as a kid, left and then returned for a big fee.

Not all about the silverware: Fabregas says Barcelona is about more than winning trophies

There were difficult moments. But overall, and especially now, the supporters have behaved brilliantly.’

The first two seasons were tumultuous. Manager Pep Guardiola left at the end of the first one and his successor Tito Vilanova stepped down at the end of the second.

‘Bayern Munich against Manchester City was probably the day when they played the best they have so far. I noticed the false nine, the pressing very high up the pitch and Philipp Lahm in midfield. It started to look like a Pep team. The movements they were making were those that he asked us to make.’

New man in charge: Gerardo Martino took over at Barcelona in the summer

Changing faces: Fabregas has played under Pep Guardiola and Tito Vilanova during his time at the Nou Camp

Vilanova, who coached Fabregas as a 13-year-old, is still receiving cancer treatment and will be honoured with a ‘Be strong, Tito’ mosaic at the Nou Camp. ‘It was so important to win the league last season and dedicate it to him and Eric Abidal [the Barcelona player who suffered from liver cancer],’ he says of a campaign that left some Barca supporters disappointed.

‘You win the league by 100 points and finish a record 15 points clear of Real Madrid. We lost in the cup against Madrid - something that can happen, it’s Madrid after all —but reached the semi-finals of the Champions League with Xavi not fit, Messi not fit. Tito was there but with the illness.

‘It was still a good season and, in another club, it would be a very good season, especially with what happened to Tito. It is something that has a profound effect.

Good times: Fabregas celebrates with the Spanish Super Cup after the win over Atletico Madrid

The next generation: Lionel Messi and Fabregas hold their sons as they sit next to the La Liga trophy

You arrive to training one morning and they tell you. For many days after, it’s almost all you can think about... “This is not normal, why always here?”. It was very, very hard but, as a team, we overcame.

‘Then Bayern come out with all guns blazing in the semi. They are very good and it was their time to win the tournament. You can’t always win but it shows what Barcelona is — maximum expectation.’

The expectation will be as high today in what is also his new coach Tata Martino’s first clasico. So far, the relationship has been good. ‘On his third or fourth day, the coach called me over and said, “I want you to be the player you were at Arsenal”. I thought fantastic, at Arsenal I felt very good. He said, “I want you to play like that”.’

GET READY FOR EL CASHICO

Welcome to the most expensive match in the world.

The 22 players likely to take the field today are worth a staggering £447.1m, truly turning El Clasico into El Cashico.

Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo — the world’s two most expensive players — line up for Madrid while Barca spent a whopping £48.6m on Neymar this summer.

STAT ATTACK

In the last two seasons, the sides have met 12 times. Both have won four, drawn four and lost four.

Fabregas was bought as a long-term replacement for Xavi and his role at Barcelona is increasing slowly but surely. ‘I do notice that I have changed a little from Arsenal. You realise that everyone is looking at you and, if you take a step forward, then the team take a step forward. I like that feeling of responsibility but here, at the moment, it has still not arrived. It is not something that you look for, it finds you. It will happen totally naturally, as it happened at Arsenal.’

The responsibility may still be coming but the continuity is already here under Martino. ‘If you play one game, the next, and the next but then comes the big game away to Bayern Munich and we are losing 4-0 and you are not even warming up then it gets you down.

All smiles: Fabregas is not looking for a move away from the Nou Camp

‘It’s all about continuity. It’s more mental than anything else. Everyone knows Xavi and Iniesta are very good. I know what I can do, but sometimes you think, “Come on, trust me boss!”.

‘The continuity has helped make Xavi and Iniesta the players they are. I want to show I am at that same level and, in that sense, it feels different this year — I am able to show that. If everything continues in this way, and I’m playing well obviously, it’s on to next season and the next and you feel increasingly important in the team.’

Fabregas doesn’t sound like a player who will be worth trying to prise away from the Nou Camp next season either.